When should we pray? Jesus prayed early in the morning, in the evening, all night. There was no pattern, just pray, whenever.
1 Corinthians 3:9
1 Corinthians 6:1
Everything starts and finishes with Him, but He involves us. Throughout the Old Testament we can see scriptures where prayer is commanded.
Jeramiah 33:3
Yes, it’s Old Testament, but there are plenty of New Testament scriptures too. “In everything give thanks.”
Psalms 50:15
Isaiah 55:6
Luke 11:5-10
“Ask”. If we treat prayer as some sort of meditation – “I’m thinking about things” – that’s not asking God at all. I’m not saying you shouldn’t meditate. We meditate on the word. You can see God in creation. But it’s imperative for us to ask.
I’m becoming more convinced if you keep a record of what you ask God, you can refer back, because the answer comes. God delights to involve us. Keep a record. I think as a church we should keep a record. Ask, and it shall be given unto you.
Matthew 26:41
Hebrews 4:16
“Prayer is not an end in itself. It’s not something done to be rested in, not something we’ve done about which we are to congratulate ourselves. It’s a means to an end. It’s something we do which brings something in return. Prayer always aims at securing an answer.”
That’s not to puff us up. But as we are co-workers together with Him, it’s God’s delight to answer because as we get involved with Him, so we want to do His will, and He lines everything up so He initiates the prayer acording to His will. But when you pray, aim at securing an answer.
“It is not the mere performance, the attitude or the word, but that answer sent directly from heaven. Answered prayer is the mark of God in our praying. It realises a relationship with the unseen. God accepts our prayers through the atoning blood, and gives His presence and grace in return.”
There used to be a national day of prayer in wartime. In May 1940, the situation in Europe was catastrophic. On May 23, various people issued a call to a national day of prayer to be held on Sunday May 26th. Just 24 hours later Hitler inexplicably ordered his armies to halt. Two days later, the nation gathered to pray. Church attendance sky-rocketed. People pleaded with God to spare those at Dunkirk. In reality it turned out to be a dramatic turning point. An evacuation was undertaken. The German armies remained in place until early June. No one knows why even now. For nine days they shelled Dunkirk, but during this time 336,000 men were saved.
You don’t hear many national days of prayer at the moment. Maybe we will. What caused that was the pressure of the situation. Since we’ve been holding these meetings, it could well be there’s a situation in your life where the circumstances have been such that this talk on prayer has been timely for you.
John 15:5-8
What does it mean to abide in Christ? You are so in line with Him, where He said, “Nevertheless not my will ...” That’s your stance. I want to do God’s will. Translate that into your prayer life, initiated by the Holy Spirit, and it’s in line with what He wants. He prepares things for us to waLuke into. The whole thing is initiated by Him. In such a relationship there is no conflict. I want to do His will, so what I ask will be according to His will. I begin to want what He wants. That’s the bottom line.
Reference to books by Jim Simbala. He would say the whole basis of his church was prayer. “An attentive willing heart is the great need of the hour. Programs, talent and human energy will never accomplish what one man in close touch with God can do.”
Blank sheet of paper. What will it be? Wheel-spin? Or God-directed activity?
It starts with God. By His Holy Spirit He prompts us, lays something on our hearts.
“It is not the utterance of words, alone the felling of desires, but is the advance of the desires to God.”
There's a story about a lady who was in the background of a situation but she was influential because she prayed.
You may not have the energy to knock up a brick wall. But supernatural prayer initiated by God, enacted by you, is a power-house.
Back to the lady. She was a woman twisted and distorted by suffering. In 1872 she was bed-ridden, praying that God would send revival to the church of which she was a member, but could not attend. She had read the story of Moody’s work in Chicago. She prayed that God would send him to the church. She had no means of reaching him. But then the pastor of her church met him, and asked him to speak. He agreed. Moody was surprised when hundreds came forward. Meetings were repeated during the following ten days, and 400 were added to the church. Moody enquired and found out about the girl.
“That girl was a member of my church. When in 1901 I was leaving England for America, I went to see her. She pointed me to a birthday book in which Moody had written, and said to me, ‘Moody wrote that when he came to see me in 1872, and I prayed for him every day. Will you add your name to my book and let me pray for you until you or I go home?’
“I shall never forget writing my name in that book. The room was full of the presence. Marianne Adlard continued to pray until she went home.
“These are the heroes and heroines who labour in prayer out of sight make it possible for those in sight to labour.”
Prayer is simply asking God to do for us what He has promised He will do if we ask Him. God’s doing the thing is as much part of the prayer as is our asking.
Think of three phases of prayer.
Phase 1 is the revelation of the father.
Phase 2 is the mediation of the Son.
Phase 3 is the inspiration of the Spirit.
The revelation of the Father: Christ has made such a revelation of the father as creates in our hearts a desire for prayer. “Father”, “Father”, “Father”. It’s God’s revelation in your heart which enables you to say that too. He has given you by that revelation the desire for communication in prayer.
The mediation of the Son: He has done such work for us as admits us to the presence of God that we might have the right to pray. He ever liveth to make intercession for us. And yet we are co-workers with Him.
The inspiration of the Spirit: Upon the accomplishment of His work and as its crowing glory, He pours forth His spirit who, by indwelling, is the inspiration of our prayer.
You get the idea. The pressures in your life are there prompting you to pray. That’s God-initiated. The outworking is you having access to the Father through the Son. And His delight is for you to become a co-worker with Him as He answers. Keep a record of what you pray.
Quotes: “The indwelling spirit how knows the will of God creates our new aspirations and out of these comes our prayer. Thus, standing in the light of the revealed Father through the mediation of His Son and answering the inspiration of the indwelling spirit, we pray.”
Don’t think if I make a list of who I might pray for, that’s too formal. If you can’t remember things, write them on a list. But in addition, allow for the fact that God may lay other people on your heart too as you pray.
By the mercy of the father, by the merit of the mediation of the Son, by the might of the inspiring spirit, prayer is possible.
Luke 18:1-8
Men ought always to pray and not to faint.
Should we pray for things more than once? Yes – if God hasn’t given the answer, pray again. The circumstances of life are such that if you need the answer, God will answer. He’ll answer in the way He wants, but He will answer.
Luke 18:9-15
As we’ve been talking about prayer, don’t take a pride in the fact that you are beginning to pray.
The second man realised his position and just came to taLuke. He wasn’t building up a CV for himself in prayer. The matter of supreme importance is the cultivation of the habit of prayer. We aren’t going to become a monastery. But it’s a good thing to cultivate prayer. Nothing is more important in our lives.
Matthew 18:19-21
I think it would be good (not in any formalised way) but if anyone wants to link up and form two, do it – and pray together. If Jesus said this, then it can’t be a bad thing to do. We’re a bit reticent, so I’m not going to force the issue. I just want to point out what these verses say. Am I taking this out of context? No. I happen to think this will happen in the church quite naturally.
Account of a lady who prayed for her unsaved husband – an American politician. God challenged her as to whether she was ready for the consequences, but He answered her prayer.
Fascinating to read of different accounts of how God initiates the prayer and causes the answer to come to fulfil His purposes.
Some of you are teachers. Each day bring those children one by one before God. You have a tremendous responsibility as a teacher. You have the curriculum. But in a Christian school you can pray that the way you go about your teaching, your demeanour ... that you’ll communicate the fact that you’re a Christian.
Two things in particular about prayer. It has to be definite, not vague. And the whole idea of importunity – making the most of the moment, and keeping on. At Trinity Jacob refused to let the angel go until he blessed him. Let’s be even more like Trinity in our private life with God.
But there needs also to be submission ...
Submission to the form in which the answer will come.
Submission to the method of the answer.
Submission to the time of the answer.
The common denominator is that there is an answer. He delights to answer and He will.
Specifically at one time, Jesus prayed:
John 17:20-22
That’s very specific. It’s a prayer for you and me. It’s incredibly specific. “This is what I’m praying – that they all may be one, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe thou hast sent me.”
Matthew 9:36-39
Was that just for His disciples to pray? No. I was taking to someone today about the fact that we need to be very aware of who God is sorting out for the future of their life, that they become someone sent of God to become a labourer in His harvest. That will become a known phenomenon that there will be those equipped and sent of God into the harvest. We need to pray that those labourers will be sent.
If you look at the end of most of the letters of Paul, you can see how specific he was about praying.
Ephesians 6:17-19
“Supplication for all saints, and for me – specifically that I may open my mouth boldly.”
Philippians 4:6
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Not meditation, not meandering, but specific.
Colossians 4:2-4
Thessalonians 5:16-19
Thessalonians 3:1-3
Two specifics – that the word may have free course, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.
Hebrews 13:18
Words of Wilberforce: “I fear I have not studied the scriptures enough. Surely in the summer recess I ought to read them an hour or two every day ... God will prosper me better if I wait on Him. The experience of all good Christians is that without prayer, things stagnate ...”
I don’t think it was self-flagellation. It was just that he wanted to get the priorities in terms of prayer to God.
Of Colnelius it was said he prayed to God always.
Colossians 4:12
Be specific. Be definite.
Spurgeon: “One time alone in prayer might make us new Christians, changed from poverty of soul to spiritual worth. From trembling to triumphing. We have an example in the life of Jacob. A night in prayer changed the supplanter into a prevailing prince ... Could not we at least now and then in these weary earth-bound years hedge about a single night for such an enriching traffic with the skies? For wealth and science men will quite their warm couches, and can we not do it for men’s souls? ... Up sluggish heart – Jesus calls thee. Rise and go forth to meet the heavenly friend in the place where He manifests Himself.”
Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Prayer (Part 1 of 3)
Our lives and how we pray, how often we pray, is incredibly significant.
In this series, we’ll look at the basis of prayer – what it is and isn’t; why and how we pray, what God is looking for; specific prayers, and practical helps.
There are certain verses where you only need to read them out and it’s obvious we are meant to be in communication with God. We are meant to have a relationship with our heavenly father.
2 Corinthians 6:1
Andrew Murray said are five essential elements of true prayer :
The heart’s desire – a desire which God puts into your heart to pray. It maybe a pressure in your life which causes you to pray.
The expression of that desire in prayer.
The faith that carries that prayer to God. This is all initiated by God, but it’s His delight to make us co-workers with Him.
In that prayer, the acceptance of God’s answers. You anticipate an answer. You aren’t prescriptive – you don’t determine how He will answer. But you anticipate an answer.
The experience of the desired blessing. Seeing God answer prayer.
God in His wisdom had caused you and me to become co-workers with Him via prayer. 95% of what Jesus said on prayer was about talking and asking, not thinking. Some people say prayer might be meditation. But when you analyse what Jesus said about prayer, the majority was about talking and asking, not thinking.
I’ve been fascinated to read a few examples of prayer. Anyone who knows anything of people’s experience in this will think of George Muller. He started orphanages. There are one or two still left near Bristol.
Quotes, along the following lines : They had 28s which was just enough to buy meat, bread, tea and milk for a couple of days. But after that they were in an extremity, facing the prospect of having to sell things they didn’t absolutely need in order to make further provision. A lady had come from London, bringing money with her. For some reason it took three days before she handed that money over, during the whole of which time they were praying. But the money came just at the right moment, and Muller saw it as a wonderful example of God’s answer to prayer.
Day in, day out, just in time, God provided. If you ever want to learn about a person of faith solely relying on prayer, George Muller is one.
Another quote, along the following lines : There were two lady missionaries in China before the communists took over. They had to collect large sum of money to bring to a hospital in order to pay salaries etc. They collected this from a bank, but were delayed and had to spend the night on the hills in bandit-infested territory. They slept with the bag of money between them. Some weeks later, a bandit leader was brought to the hospital. He said he had seen them with the money, and he and the brigands had wanted the money, but didn’t take it because they saw 27 soldieries with the ladies. Some time later, the ladies related this story at their home church in London. The church secretary asked for the precise date when this had happened, and then consulted his meticulous notes – and said that on that day the church prayer meeting had had a special burden for them ... a meeting at which 27 were present ...”
I could ask various of you to quote where God has answered prayer for you specifically.
What God wants to do is strengthen our prayer life and make it more real than it’s ever been. I can look to occasions in my own life. I was preparing for a camp once, and I suddenly realised we had no piano. I got together with the coach driver and said we’d go and find a piano. We prayed for a piano, and we got in the coach and drove. And within a few miles, we knocked on a door at a church. The man said they had been going to get rid of a piano and we could have it. I was probably about sixteen at the time, and that was a classic, just-in-time, answer. That sounds small in comparison to George Muller, but it was very real.
God wants an intimacy in prayer for you and me.
Genesis 3:8-11
It was the voice of God walking. In the beginning was the Word. God is all about relationship and communication. Man’s original state was in communion with God, and it was His voice which was walking in the garden. There was a oneness with the creator. And when sin came there was a barrier to that oneness. Sin broke the relationship and Adam and Eve hid from God. They no longer wanted to communicate with Him. Sin brought a reluctance to communicate.
Exodus 20:18-20
Again, the barrier. You speak – we don’t want to.
As we move forward to today – post crucifixion, post resurrection, we are in a different relationship with God.
It really is paramount that you and I make time to pray. It’s not the case that you can say, “I’m always praying to God because I think of Him all the time.” The more I read of this subject, the more apparent it is that we need to make time to get alone with God in prayer. Not legalism or ritual, but we need to develop communication so we can talk to God and hear from Him.
In the Old Testament, they appealed to Him as the merciful one, but there was not the intimacy which we have in prayer now.
Numbers 10:35-37
A direct appeal to God’s help.
Numbers 14:17-20
Another appeal to God’s mercy and character – but not the intimacy which Jesus brought about when He communicated with father.
Judges 16:28
There was a calling out, but there wasn’t the intimacy you’d have in a family situation.
In the New Testament, the disciples were seeing what Jesus was doing in His prayer life, and one of them plucked up courage to ask about it.
Luke 11:1-3
Totally different – “Our Father which art in heaven.” The common denominator in Jesus’s prayer life is that He got alone with God when there were decisions to be made. There was no formula. I can’t turn to a specific scripture and identify the things you have to do when you pray. But Jesus pointed out that in various instances, people were getting it wrong.
Matthew 6:7
When – not if – you pray. As far as Jesus was concerned, and this is broughtrne out in Acts and in the Epistles, we’re meant to pray.
Matthew 6:8
People say, “If God knows what things I need, why do we pray?” The answer goes back to 2 Corinthians. We are co-workers together with Him, and it’s His delight to involve us in what He is doing. If it’s His delight, it matters that we spend time talking to Him.
How many people spend five minutes specifically on their own praying to God in a day? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes ...
I know the pace of life. I think actually that what God is doing with us is to get out attention to what He wants us to do. And He wants us to start spending time with Him.
John 15:15-17
In prayer, there is the fact of you asking God for something. That’s not selfish, but you do ask. He plants that desire in your heart to pray, and the delights in you praying and delights in answering.
Sometimes in the pressure of life, it’s good to grab minutes, or make a specific time when you can pray to God. And don’t be dismissive of your spouse praying. If they’ve gone off to pray – brilliant. Let’s encourage one another in prayer.
There was an example on the Old Testament of someone who walked with God and then disappeared.
Hebrews 11:5
I’m not saying that suddenly you’re going to disappear. But I am saying that description was that he pleased God.
Hebrews 11:6
This is you in your prayer. That’s why a few weeks ago I mentioned about recoring when you pray for something. Write it down and date it and refer back to it. Prayer is real. And if one were to put a flipchart up and we were to record what we were praying for as a church, it could focus our minds on what God has prompted us to pray to look for the answer.
Prayer is born out of faith in God and His promises.
Hebrews 10:22-26
We have to draw together to God. We believe He will answer what we pray. We should get alongside someone else – “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst.” There is something about linking up with someone else to pray.
Supposing you thought it would be good to pray for our young people, and you knew that that was really on your heart and you talked to someone and it was on their heart too. What would be wrong in linking up with that person to pray with that combined desire?
That’s what I think will come about amongst us – we’ll be aware that there is the freedom to do it, and we’ll want to get together. Does that mean I have to initiate something formal? No. But it shouldn’t be unnatural or abnormal for that to happen – and it will happen. I think God is putting in different people’s hearts elements of concern for this and that, where there is a synergy of a desire to come before God – to lift up a particular person, or whatever.
Isaiah 49:8
It will be acceptable because it’s prompted by God. It’s the Holy Spirit who prompts us to pray. It may be a circumstance which automatically causes you to have a need for God’s help. Nothing wrong with that. But Jesus was careful to explain what the role of the Holy Spirit was. This is where we have a different scenario from the Old Testament. Jesus died, rose from the dead, and the spirit of truth came.
John 16:13-15
The Holy Spirit prompts us. We need to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is doing. And that sensitivity will outwork in your prayer life that you are praying according to God’s will because He put that desire in your heart to pray.
Romans 8:26
We don’t know what to pray unless we are sensitive to the spirit. If nothing else, it would help to make that little bit of time. Pray as suits you, but be alert, awake, sensitive.
Romans 8:26-28
Jesus is always making intercession for you and me. That’s His role. We become part of that process. When we have made time for prayer, the Holy Spirit will prompt us to think of the things He wants us to pray about. So it’s vital we give Him time. Sheer practicality. If we don’t give Him time, it won’t happen in the same way.
James 5:13-19
To fulfill that verse, we have to have elders.
Elijah was like you and me, and all he did was pray according to what God wanted and the result was as described there.
Talking is the other thing I know will happen more and more. We’ll find it more natural to share what God is doing in our lives. we wont get over religious. We’re just Christians who want to go forward individually and collectively to what God wants.
Mark 14:32
I think that wasn’t an uncommon thing for Him to say and do. Prayer was part of His life.
Mark 14:33-38
They overheard Him. Sometimes it may help you to pray out loud – not so that others can hear, but to keep you alert and specific.
Throughout Jesus’s life succeeded in fulfilling every ounce of God’s will. And that’s a top priority for us. If we have a decision to make, we pray about it. We don’t want to make a wrong move, to jump in without sorting things out with God.
Mark 14:36-42
I often wonder how this affected the prayer lives of the disciples later, having overheard Jesus pray. I think they overheard Him a lot.
This verse points out that the key thing is to do God’s will for your life. That’s a centrality of my prayer life.
Phillipians 4:6-8
In everything – not something, but everything. If you meet someone who is praying whether to run for the post now or catch the later one, that might be of concern. But ... “with thanksgiving” let your requests be made known, and as a result there will be a guarding of your heart if you offload everything to God. That’s what George Muller did. His whole attitude was that it was God’s problem and He will sort it.
Tonight I hope this will help you to spend time. God wants you to have His peace in your heart.
We need to pray for the trustees. They need wisdom to know how to progress things. God will sort it out.
In your life as you bring everything with prayer and supplication, your heart will be guarded and there will be peace.
Colossians 4:2-5
Ephesians 6:16-20
You would think Paul would be able to preach readily, but he needed prayer.
The Old Testament was different. What made the New Testament different was not only the example of Jesus, but when He sent the Holy Spirit, there came the indwelling Christ, and the promoting of the Holy Spirit created that intimacy in your relationship which you have and can have more of.
In God using His word to talk to us, I’m excited that practical things will happen for good.
Seven things a prayer should be said with:
Sincerity
Simplicity - We’re not out to make things complicated. When Jesus conveyed the Lord’s prayer, it was very simple, and very profound.
Humility - Jesus pointed out the Pharisee who said he was glad he was not like a sinner.
Intensity. This is serious stuff we’re talking about.
Charity – “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We don’t use prayer as a means of getting our own back.
Unanimity – if we’re with a second or third person, we’re united in our prayer.
Tenacity – not giving up without an answer, can we pray more than once? Yes. We need an answer. We need to reach out to those who need Him.
In this series, we’ll look at the basis of prayer – what it is and isn’t; why and how we pray, what God is looking for; specific prayers, and practical helps.
There are certain verses where you only need to read them out and it’s obvious we are meant to be in communication with God. We are meant to have a relationship with our heavenly father.
2 Corinthians 6:1
Andrew Murray said are five essential elements of true prayer :
The heart’s desire – a desire which God puts into your heart to pray. It maybe a pressure in your life which causes you to pray.
The expression of that desire in prayer.
The faith that carries that prayer to God. This is all initiated by God, but it’s His delight to make us co-workers with Him.
In that prayer, the acceptance of God’s answers. You anticipate an answer. You aren’t prescriptive – you don’t determine how He will answer. But you anticipate an answer.
The experience of the desired blessing. Seeing God answer prayer.
God in His wisdom had caused you and me to become co-workers with Him via prayer. 95% of what Jesus said on prayer was about talking and asking, not thinking. Some people say prayer might be meditation. But when you analyse what Jesus said about prayer, the majority was about talking and asking, not thinking.
I’ve been fascinated to read a few examples of prayer. Anyone who knows anything of people’s experience in this will think of George Muller. He started orphanages. There are one or two still left near Bristol.
Quotes, along the following lines : They had 28s which was just enough to buy meat, bread, tea and milk for a couple of days. But after that they were in an extremity, facing the prospect of having to sell things they didn’t absolutely need in order to make further provision. A lady had come from London, bringing money with her. For some reason it took three days before she handed that money over, during the whole of which time they were praying. But the money came just at the right moment, and Muller saw it as a wonderful example of God’s answer to prayer.
Day in, day out, just in time, God provided. If you ever want to learn about a person of faith solely relying on prayer, George Muller is one.
Another quote, along the following lines : There were two lady missionaries in China before the communists took over. They had to collect large sum of money to bring to a hospital in order to pay salaries etc. They collected this from a bank, but were delayed and had to spend the night on the hills in bandit-infested territory. They slept with the bag of money between them. Some weeks later, a bandit leader was brought to the hospital. He said he had seen them with the money, and he and the brigands had wanted the money, but didn’t take it because they saw 27 soldieries with the ladies. Some time later, the ladies related this story at their home church in London. The church secretary asked for the precise date when this had happened, and then consulted his meticulous notes – and said that on that day the church prayer meeting had had a special burden for them ... a meeting at which 27 were present ...”
I could ask various of you to quote where God has answered prayer for you specifically.
What God wants to do is strengthen our prayer life and make it more real than it’s ever been. I can look to occasions in my own life. I was preparing for a camp once, and I suddenly realised we had no piano. I got together with the coach driver and said we’d go and find a piano. We prayed for a piano, and we got in the coach and drove. And within a few miles, we knocked on a door at a church. The man said they had been going to get rid of a piano and we could have it. I was probably about sixteen at the time, and that was a classic, just-in-time, answer. That sounds small in comparison to George Muller, but it was very real.
God wants an intimacy in prayer for you and me.
Genesis 3:8-11
It was the voice of God walking. In the beginning was the Word. God is all about relationship and communication. Man’s original state was in communion with God, and it was His voice which was walking in the garden. There was a oneness with the creator. And when sin came there was a barrier to that oneness. Sin broke the relationship and Adam and Eve hid from God. They no longer wanted to communicate with Him. Sin brought a reluctance to communicate.
Exodus 20:18-20
Again, the barrier. You speak – we don’t want to.
As we move forward to today – post crucifixion, post resurrection, we are in a different relationship with God.
It really is paramount that you and I make time to pray. It’s not the case that you can say, “I’m always praying to God because I think of Him all the time.” The more I read of this subject, the more apparent it is that we need to make time to get alone with God in prayer. Not legalism or ritual, but we need to develop communication so we can talk to God and hear from Him.
In the Old Testament, they appealed to Him as the merciful one, but there was not the intimacy which we have in prayer now.
Numbers 10:35-37
A direct appeal to God’s help.
Numbers 14:17-20
Another appeal to God’s mercy and character – but not the intimacy which Jesus brought about when He communicated with father.
Judges 16:28
There was a calling out, but there wasn’t the intimacy you’d have in a family situation.
In the New Testament, the disciples were seeing what Jesus was doing in His prayer life, and one of them plucked up courage to ask about it.
Luke 11:1-3
Totally different – “Our Father which art in heaven.” The common denominator in Jesus’s prayer life is that He got alone with God when there were decisions to be made. There was no formula. I can’t turn to a specific scripture and identify the things you have to do when you pray. But Jesus pointed out that in various instances, people were getting it wrong.
Matthew 6:7
When – not if – you pray. As far as Jesus was concerned, and this is broughtrne out in Acts and in the Epistles, we’re meant to pray.
Matthew 6:8
People say, “If God knows what things I need, why do we pray?” The answer goes back to 2 Corinthians. We are co-workers together with Him, and it’s His delight to involve us in what He is doing. If it’s His delight, it matters that we spend time talking to Him.
How many people spend five minutes specifically on their own praying to God in a day? Ten minutes? Twenty minutes ...
I know the pace of life. I think actually that what God is doing with us is to get out attention to what He wants us to do. And He wants us to start spending time with Him.
John 15:15-17
In prayer, there is the fact of you asking God for something. That’s not selfish, but you do ask. He plants that desire in your heart to pray, and the delights in you praying and delights in answering.
Sometimes in the pressure of life, it’s good to grab minutes, or make a specific time when you can pray to God. And don’t be dismissive of your spouse praying. If they’ve gone off to pray – brilliant. Let’s encourage one another in prayer.
There was an example on the Old Testament of someone who walked with God and then disappeared.
Hebrews 11:5
I’m not saying that suddenly you’re going to disappear. But I am saying that description was that he pleased God.
Hebrews 11:6
This is you in your prayer. That’s why a few weeks ago I mentioned about recoring when you pray for something. Write it down and date it and refer back to it. Prayer is real. And if one were to put a flipchart up and we were to record what we were praying for as a church, it could focus our minds on what God has prompted us to pray to look for the answer.
Prayer is born out of faith in God and His promises.
Hebrews 10:22-26
We have to draw together to God. We believe He will answer what we pray. We should get alongside someone else – “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst.” There is something about linking up with someone else to pray.
Supposing you thought it would be good to pray for our young people, and you knew that that was really on your heart and you talked to someone and it was on their heart too. What would be wrong in linking up with that person to pray with that combined desire?
That’s what I think will come about amongst us – we’ll be aware that there is the freedom to do it, and we’ll want to get together. Does that mean I have to initiate something formal? No. But it shouldn’t be unnatural or abnormal for that to happen – and it will happen. I think God is putting in different people’s hearts elements of concern for this and that, where there is a synergy of a desire to come before God – to lift up a particular person, or whatever.
Isaiah 49:8
It will be acceptable because it’s prompted by God. It’s the Holy Spirit who prompts us to pray. It may be a circumstance which automatically causes you to have a need for God’s help. Nothing wrong with that. But Jesus was careful to explain what the role of the Holy Spirit was. This is where we have a different scenario from the Old Testament. Jesus died, rose from the dead, and the spirit of truth came.
John 16:13-15
The Holy Spirit prompts us. We need to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is doing. And that sensitivity will outwork in your prayer life that you are praying according to God’s will because He put that desire in your heart to pray.
Romans 8:26
We don’t know what to pray unless we are sensitive to the spirit. If nothing else, it would help to make that little bit of time. Pray as suits you, but be alert, awake, sensitive.
Romans 8:26-28
Jesus is always making intercession for you and me. That’s His role. We become part of that process. When we have made time for prayer, the Holy Spirit will prompt us to think of the things He wants us to pray about. So it’s vital we give Him time. Sheer practicality. If we don’t give Him time, it won’t happen in the same way.
James 5:13-19
To fulfill that verse, we have to have elders.
Elijah was like you and me, and all he did was pray according to what God wanted and the result was as described there.
Talking is the other thing I know will happen more and more. We’ll find it more natural to share what God is doing in our lives. we wont get over religious. We’re just Christians who want to go forward individually and collectively to what God wants.
Mark 14:32
I think that wasn’t an uncommon thing for Him to say and do. Prayer was part of His life.
Mark 14:33-38
They overheard Him. Sometimes it may help you to pray out loud – not so that others can hear, but to keep you alert and specific.
Throughout Jesus’s life succeeded in fulfilling every ounce of God’s will. And that’s a top priority for us. If we have a decision to make, we pray about it. We don’t want to make a wrong move, to jump in without sorting things out with God.
Mark 14:36-42
I often wonder how this affected the prayer lives of the disciples later, having overheard Jesus pray. I think they overheard Him a lot.
This verse points out that the key thing is to do God’s will for your life. That’s a centrality of my prayer life.
Phillipians 4:6-8
In everything – not something, but everything. If you meet someone who is praying whether to run for the post now or catch the later one, that might be of concern. But ... “with thanksgiving” let your requests be made known, and as a result there will be a guarding of your heart if you offload everything to God. That’s what George Muller did. His whole attitude was that it was God’s problem and He will sort it.
Tonight I hope this will help you to spend time. God wants you to have His peace in your heart.
We need to pray for the trustees. They need wisdom to know how to progress things. God will sort it out.
In your life as you bring everything with prayer and supplication, your heart will be guarded and there will be peace.
Colossians 4:2-5
Ephesians 6:16-20
You would think Paul would be able to preach readily, but he needed prayer.
The Old Testament was different. What made the New Testament different was not only the example of Jesus, but when He sent the Holy Spirit, there came the indwelling Christ, and the promoting of the Holy Spirit created that intimacy in your relationship which you have and can have more of.
In God using His word to talk to us, I’m excited that practical things will happen for good.
Seven things a prayer should be said with:
Sincerity
Simplicity - We’re not out to make things complicated. When Jesus conveyed the Lord’s prayer, it was very simple, and very profound.
Humility - Jesus pointed out the Pharisee who said he was glad he was not like a sinner.
Intensity. This is serious stuff we’re talking about.
Charity – “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We don’t use prayer as a means of getting our own back.
Unanimity – if we’re with a second or third person, we’re united in our prayer.
Tenacity – not giving up without an answer, can we pray more than once? Yes. We need an answer. We need to reach out to those who need Him.
Friday, 15 August 2008
In Me You Have Peace
Pastor Linnecar looks at the events leading up to Jesus’ death where, in a humble act, He washed the feet of all the disciples as a servant, and revealed to them who was going to betray Him. Jesus shared with the disciples about the Comforter that would come, the Holy Spirit who is the instrument by which Jesus lives inside us today.
John 17:1
To set John 17 in context, we’re going to go back to chapter 13. This was a very important time for Jesus – just think about the process of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet: it is the role of a servant, a humble act.
John 13:12 - 30
After Jesus washed the disciples feet, including Judas, He was troubled in spirit, because he knew it was the time to reveal who was going to betray Him. The disciples were asking “Lord, who is it?” Then Satan entered into Judas and he went out.
All the words we have from John 13:31, up to and including John 17, Judas was not there and it was as if Jesus now opened things up.
John 13:3 - 35
It’s interesting that this is the first main emphasis of the intimate words that Jesus shares with His disciples. As a result of Judas’s actions, Jesus would be glorified. But now, Jesus is saying that they should love one another.
John 16:1 - 6
These were huge revelations to the disciples and Jesus was getting really specific about what was going to happen to Him. He says that even if you are killed, they will think they are doing God a service. Somehow in the minds of the disciples, Jesus was preparing them for the time that was going to come about. He was going to die and then be raised from the dead.
John 16:7 - 11
So the role of the Holy Spirit is incredibly specific. He reveals Jesus to you. And He is the instrument by which Jesus lives inside of you. Instead, now that He is with the Father, He has sent the Holy Spirit and He lives inside each one of us. And we can do His work because we have the Holy Spirit within us.
John 16:12 - 14
So the work of the Holy Spirit is very straight forward and marvellous. All He does is reveal more of Christ to you.
John 16:15 - 20
Whenever Jesus spoke, quite often He referred to the fact that even though you might see some things one way in the natural, it’s totally different to how God sees them. For the disciples here, this was a huge thing, because Jesus was going to be crucified in front of them.
It doesn’t matter what’s happening in your life, or how you see things, I want to confirm to you the way God sees things, and He is at peace with what is going on in your life.
John 16:21 - 22
And there’s something about the relationship you have with God, which no man but no man can severe. No one can become between you and your God. That hold on you is inviolate, and wonderful.
John 16:23 - 24
So this was a new concept. If the disciples wanted to check something out with Jesus, they would check it out with Him. Now He’s saying to them, “I’m not going to be here, but the Comforter will come and now I want you to ask and receive that your joy may be full”.
Another thing I want to confirm to you is that every prayer you have made and every time you have wondered whether He has heard you, He has heard you. I am constantly coming across people who say, “You know, it must be God. And I have seen an answer to my prayer”.
Sometimes we pray and then pray again about the same thing because you want to make sure.
John 16:24 - 33
Before Jesus left the disciples, He communicated to them a glorious, wonderful truth. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace”. Because when, in the midst of everything, you have a perspective of how God is doing things, you have peace.
John 16:33
It’s not a problem. Everything is being outworked according to God’s purposes, through His love to you and to me. Later, in chapter 17 we will have a glimpse at His prayer and it includes you.
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